North London SolFed and Haringey Solidarity Group picketed Homes for Haringey on Wednesday 10th April. It was our second picket there over the use of workfare by the council housing provider and a charity Groundwork. After sacking one third of their gardening staff two years ago, they are now forcing benefit claimants to do the work for no pay.
The tenth issue of Education Worker, the bulletin of the Education Workers Network of SolFed focuses on victimisation in education, including articles on victimisation of NUT reps, the Halesowen Four and London Met.
Classroom assistants were out on strike on Tuesday 26th at Horizon and Downsview special schools in Hackney, over a regrading issue which would see low paid staff lose out by around £200 a month.
All the permanent classroom assistants were out on strike. Classroom assistants on probation and agency staff went in but held up messages of support at the windows.
The classroom assistants, who do a lot of the frontline work with special needs children, told us how they felt the management didn’t value their work or care about their wellbeing at all, even when they get hurt at work. They said they stayed in the job due to love of working with children, but they felt totally undervalued.
Despite the freezing temperatures and snow showers on Saturday 23rd March, members of Feminist Fightback, North London Solfed, Boycott Workfare and other local groups, residents and anti-workfare protesters picketed Argos in Leytonstone and Poundland in Wembley.
In Leytonstone, for a large demonstration the reception from the public was generally very positive, with residents driving past slowing down and opening windows asking for leaflets. Plenty of people stopped to chat despite the cold.
We picketed Argos as part of the Boycott Workfare week of action and we were originally going to picket Superdrug as well who pulled out a day before the demo; no doubt in part due to pressure from anti-workfare groups and campaigns across the country.
Belfast SolFed is pleased to announce that we will be starting the first in a series of informal, relaxed meetings about anarchism and anarchist unions at the monthly Anarchy Cafe in the Centre (aka Giros), Little Victoria Street, Belfast.
The Anarchy Cafe will take place on the last Monday of each month.
We will be starting on Monday 29th of April with a discussion on anarchism and the struggle for a woman's right to choose.. There will be a book stall, refreshments and snacks. Kicking off at 7.00 pm hope to see you there.
Yesterday North London Solidarity Federation picketed the Homes For Haringey offices in Wood Green and the depot for Groundwork, in Tottenham, who are employed by the Council to provide gardening and improvement services on estates in the area. The demonstration was against Groundwork's use of workfare; unemployed people are forced by Jobcentres to do the work. They are not being paid for it and they can't refuse or they would lose their benefits for two months.
There are over 6,500 people looking for work in Tottenham and this number keeps on increasing. The area has the highest unemployment in London. What is Haringey Council doing? Hundreds of people providing essential services have been made redundant and now they are being replaced by unpaid workers.
COME down for 1pm and join in the LARGEST demonstration (so far) against privatisation at Sussex University, and to show that universities nationwide are NOT FOR SALE!
IF coming from outside of Brighton, please organise a coach to come down from your local area. Stay in the occupation the night before and if you please, stay for a celebration afterwards...
With encroaching privatisation across campuses, we need to stand up and make it heard: OUR UNIVERSITY IS NOT FOR SALE!
more details to follow, including speakers, but get planning!
The University is a Factory - SHUT IT DOWN!
Keith Hodgson, long time activist in the Liverpool anarchist scene, died on Saturday 23rd February 2013, aged 50. Keith, like many of his generation, was radicalised by the re-vitalised Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and by the Thatcher onslaught against working class rights and freedoms in the 1980s. As a young anarchist and CND activist, Keith rapidly moved to the direct action wing of the anti-militarist movement and also worked voluntarily in the CND Merseyside offices. This combination of organisational work and street activism was typical of Keith over the years.